What happens when the project manager crashes a project?

Your organization has named you the project manager of the JKN Project. This project has a BAC of $1,500,000 and it is expected to last 18 months. Management has agreed that if the schedule baseline has a variance of more than five percent then you will need to crash the project. What happens when the project manager crashes a project?

A.
Project risks will increase.

B.
Project costs will increase.

C.
The amount of hours a resource can be used will diminish.

D.
The project will take longer to complete, but risks will diminish.

Explanation:

When a project is crashed more resources are added to the project for duration compression.

Crashing is a schedule compression technique to obtain the greatest amount of compression for the least incremental cost. Crashing works for activities where additional resources will shorten the duration. Approving overtime, bringing in additional resources, paying to expedite delivery to activities on the critical path are examples of crashing. The project spends extra money to deliver in less time. And this still makes economic sense in the project execution.

Answer option A is incorrect. Project risks generally do not increase with crashing, but they do if the project manager fast tracks the project by allowing phases to overlap.

Answer option C is incorrect. This statement defines resource leveling heuristics, not crashing the project.

Answer option D is incorrect. This is not a valid statement about risk and project crashing.

Reference: "Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), Fourth Edition"